How to Destroy Yourself
by GraycefulChaos
Summary: Ambrose and Cain try to deal with their pasts as an uprising threatens the Outer Zone. Warnings: Will have mentions of rape, violence, language, angst, slash. Ambrose/Cain
1. Chapter 1

Title: How to Destroy Yourself 1/?

Rating: R

Warnings: Mentions of rape, language, violence, mens touching.

(posted on lj communities tinandstraw and glitchwyatt)

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-The problem with remembering the things that you wanted to remember is that you manage to remember the things that you so desperately tried to forget.-

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The O.Z. had been out of the witch's clutches for just shy of half an annual. During this time everyone had been busy putting what fragmented pieces they could manage to scrape up of the Outer Zone back together. It evident that it would be years before the damage that the possessed Azkadellia caused would be erased as best it could.

Every waking moment was a reminder to all involved that nothing would ever be the same. Luckily, they had DG to remind them that a world without change is just boring.

The Queen and King took their places on the throne as the two princesses resumed their training and studies necessary to rule. Azkadellia did not agree with the decision to allow her to be prepared for a place in power, but was quickly quieted when DG grudgingly agreed to the training and argued that if she was forced to do it, her sister had to do it too. No one had the extreme amount of patience needed to battle her when she got something stuck into her head. There was no winning against her stubborn nature.

Raw had spent most of his time searching for what was left of his people. Those that were left were few and far between, many killed for the witch's purposes. He was constantly going back and forth from the palace and his travels, keeping his friends updated and checking in on Kalm, whom the queen insisted stay there and that she would be more than happy to take care of him personally. No one questioned this decision, as they were all well aware that the Queen had missed out on raising her own children normally and that this was her chance to enjoy that experience.

Both of the Cain men were busy with reconstructing the Outer Zone. Jeb had taken a position as a highly revered officer and was almost instantly recognized by the people for his ambition and loyalty to the royal family. Wyatt had taken a position closer to his new friends as head of the guard in the palace. When the job was originally offered to him, he had politely declined under the impression that it would be a cushy and boring position. Within a week of the witch being removed from power there had been at least half a dozen well planned attacks inside the palace, causing Wyatt to change his mind. While it was amusing to find DG and Az, and sometimes an angry Glitch, hovering over unconscious Longcoats waiting for someone to clean up the mess, it was wasting valuable time and putting the royal family, the royal adviser, and even Kalm in harms way.

The people of the O.Z. had different ways of adapting to the change. There were those that ran out at the first sign of the end of the witch's reign with every intention of signing up for anything they might be useful for. Then there were those that offered what they could and those that chose to stay uninvolved.

The Underground was another story. It remained as untouched by law as it had before, the now jobless Longcoats and Witch supporters crawled around the place like rodents infesting a poorly protected kitchen. While the Underground had been a place to be feared during the Witch's control, it was now a death trap to anyone that wasn't "truly evil" (as Jeb referred to them). The lesser convicts, small time thieves and tricksters were quickly flushed out by the more violent and sadistic group. Even at half an annual of work, the reconstruction of the O.Z. did not have the time nor the effort to put towards thwarting what ever horrid world the rats were concocting down there. While the Tin Men's numbers were increasing, it would take time to gain enough numbers as well as adequately train them to not get themselves killed.

As for people that should try not to get themselves killed, Glitch did not seem to have that particular talent until the last moment of a predicament. The man had been running around like a maniac trying to put what he could into order, yet managing to cause more chaos than one would think is possible for a head case. On several occasions he had locked himself in rooms that were rarely used, only to be found hours after he had been noticed missing at dinner. Most if not all of those times, he was found by Wyatt Cain. Cain had been furious at first, but upon finding the royal adviser avoiding eye contact and rushing out of the room in a flurry of embarrassment and apologies, he gave up trying to reprimand Glitch for what really couldn't be helped. On the other hand, during the times he was locked away, Glitch managed to write down enough of his thoughts that he was able to work with the scientists and magic users lurking around the palace on a way to reattach his other half of a brain.

Cain asked him once how he planned on successfully reuniting his brain.

Glitch responded by saying "You know what they say! What goes up must come down."

Cain replied with "And an object in motion stays in motion."

"Exactly!" Glitch exclaimed before quickly frowning in confusion. "No no, that wasn't it." Cain rolled his eyes and patted the head case on the back. He opted to refrain from asking about the surgery a second time.

On the day that the studies had been completed, the Queen insisted that everyone gather to discuss the change that was about to take place with their close friend. Ahamo had seemed to disagree with this meeting, but was quieted when Glitch insisted in front of everyone that it was his own suggestion that led to it.

In short, everyone feared the change that would be taking place. Glitch was afraid of losing his friends and his friends were afraid of losing him. However, it was something that needed to be done. He insisted that this sacrifice was needed in order to negate his last sacrifice. Cain insisted that this particular logic made absolutely no sense, but trying to argue logic with Glitch really was an impossible task. Everyone had their own point to insist. If an outsider were listening in, they would insist that everyone was insisting on everything possible to insist on. By the end of the meeting, the word had been repeated so many times that no one could remember if they were saying it correctly any more.

The next day, Glitch got his brain back.

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Ambrose woke up with a slight throbbing pain on the top of his skull. That was until he opened his eyes. Then it was a severely debilitating and blinding pain that caused him to gasp and then groan and proceed to shut his eyes once again. He felt someone nudge his lips open and pour a small amount of water into his mouth, which he gratefully swallowed. A few moments later he was almost asleep, vaguely thinking about what exactly had been in that water to subside the pain so quickly.

It was two days before the herb in the water had worn off and Ambrose woke up again. His sleep had been dreamless, an effect of the healing properties of the drink. He opened his eyes to the view of DG looming over his bed.

"You're awake! He's awake! How do you feel?" Her voice was louder than it needed to be and it caused him to wince. He'd prefer a hang over any day. Movement from the side of the room made him aware of Wyatt's presence. Cain began to speak in a much lower voice, which Ambrose silently thanked the man for.

"Good morning, sweetheart." Cain grinned, but his eyes betrayed the act. He seemed to be waiting for a reaction, something to let him know if the man laying there staring at them even knew who they were.

Ambrose tried his hardest to come up with something to say, or even the capacity to verbalize it, but nothing came out but a short grunt followed by a longer more irritated grunt.

DG raised an eyebrow, "Really? Is that all? Alright, well the doctors said you'd have to work on those motor functions for a while. Now that you're conscious, it shouldn't take long to recover them fully." She moved closer to plop down on the side of the bed. "They also said that I should remind you that you're not going to remember everything all at once. The magic used to heal you was set to wear off gradually, so it should take a few days before you're at full function."

Cain shifted nervously at their side, "So, do you remember us at least?"

Nodding slowly, Ambrose turned to face the blond to offer a faint smile. The expression was cut short with a confused look and a deeper frown. Ambrose was starting to remember their adventures, and the consequences that went with his actions. He was consumed by these memories and began to ignore the two watching over him. DG left after a few hours and others came to visit him from time to time. Cain barely left his side for the rest of the day, well into the next morning. Ambrose was aware of his presence, but there was nothing he could do to acknowledge it at that point, for his mind was over flowing with things that he had been trying so very hard to remember. It was when Cain had finally left to take care of his duties that Ambrose started to really regret having his brain placed back in is head.

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Cain tried his best to quietly sneak into Ambrose's quarters well past midnight. He quickly realized that it did not make a difference as the royal adviser was almost catatonic. Wyatt watched Ambrose stare at the ceiling for a few minutes before entering further into the room. It wasn't until he had gotten to the chair he had strategically placed next to the bed to keep an eye on the recovering man (as well as have a perfect view of the door) that he realized something wasn't right. The paler man laid silently without expression, but it was obvious that it hadn't been long since he had cried. His cheeks were tear stained and his once child like eyes were now glassy and red.

Wyatt Cain, the protector of the royal family and their closest friends, including the man before him, did not know what to do other than sit and wait.

So he did.

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There had been times that he had wished he had just told them what they wanted to know. Months had been taken just to try to pry the information out of him through what ever means necessary before deciding to just take poke around as they pleased and physically remove it from him. It wasn't their first choice, he would have been so benificial to the witch if he would just cooperate. Instead, he chose to remain silent and forced them to attempt a surgery that could quite possibly kill him and leave them with nothing.

He shouldn't have been able to survive that time before the surgery. He really shouldn't have. There had been so much blood, so much pain. They beat him repeatedly, making sure to never damage his precious brain. They took advantage of him in what ever way they could, physically and mentally destroying him. He never stopped pleading for it to end, yet never once gave a bit of useful information.

Even at the end, he pleaded. It was useless, for even the man above him had explained to him not a few hours before his head was being carved into, "No point in keeping what is broken" the surgeon gleefully explained, "You just salvage what is useful and discard the rest".

As Ambrose drifted off into a fitful slumber on that operating table, all he could think was that the man had been right. Although he had previously had his moments, at this point, he was completely and utterly useless.

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It was Cain's job to watch over Ambrose. The queen had said so. It had nothing to do with the fact that he had almost demanded the job and that he would have done so whether she had told him to or not. He needed to be there. He owed Glitch for more than just saving his life when he almost froze to death. He owed him for saving him from himself. At first he had figured that DG's behavior would be what kept him from having time to fall headfirst into his own nightmares, yet it was Glitch's inane conversations and annoyingly insightful comments that kept him going. It gave him time to think without letting him drown in his own memories.

Somehow Glitch had become his closest friend and Cain had no idea how he hadn't noticed. He needed Glitch, or Ambrose or whatever name that man wanted to be called, to wake up and keep him company.

Every time he closed his eyes, he'd remember his life in that tin suit. The first few days, he had been torn between anger, fear and sorrow. He cried for his son and wife, hoping with every blink of his eyes and every breath that he took that the hologram before him would stop and his family would walk out of the house with open arms and pull him out of his prison.

As the days became weeks and the weeks ran into months and time lost any meaning or purpose, he just stood and watched. There were times where he would remember something irrelevant, such as missions he had taken part in as a Tin Man, but the guilt of ignoring the images before him hurt just as badly as watching them, if not more. His eyes lost focus of everything and everything, the hologram played in his mind whether he chose to watch it or not. Memories would only mingle with the horror and his entire past became that one moment.

According to Wyatt Cain, there is nothing more painful than remembering.

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There had been talk of an uprising in the underground. Every rumor led directly back to Zero, the man that was locked up securely in a dark cell, with no human contact. Even food was given through what was more or less a pipe leading from some unknown place to a bucket. No one could figure out how someone in that position would be able to communicate with those that might want to cause trouble to the reconstructing kingdom.

Zero constantly thought of how he had been a coward. He had given in so easily, choosing his own safety over the witch's cause. If she hadn't been defeated, she would have hunted him down and killed him in the most painful way imaginable, or quite possibly worse. In what he considered sheer luck, she had been destroyed. Now he had to redeem himself in order to be saved from the little hell that had been prepared for him. The thing about bad people is that they are more than likely to know how to do sneaky things in the most horrible ways. Such as sending scouts that appeared to be of the rodent nature to keep in contact with him, yet not bothering to train the things to avoid viciously attack him while he was sleeping, or worse yet, while he was relieving himself. Perhaps they had been trained to do just that. Either way, it wasn't amusing in the least.

He would be released from this prison and he would make that Tin Man and head case pay. It would be his pleasure to describe the death of that simple woman in great detail before he killed Cain. It would be even more amusing to make that adviser remember ever little thing he had gone through before he was graciously relieved of half his brain. Zero wondered if he shouldn't keep the law man around just to watch their fear ferment in each other's pain. Then he would kill them together. After that, well the whole royal family could use with a good cleaning out. After all, it was power he was after, nothing else really.

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Cain had been grateful when Ambrose had fully awaken post surgery. Even a thin set smile and a lackluster "Hello" was enough to give him hope that Glitch was still roaming around somewhere in that tender skull. However, with each moment it became more evident that something wasn't right. The Ambrose he had seen in Glitch's memories hadn't been as full of remorse and soft spoken, which was definitely saying something. The change was inevitable, especially with the events that had occurred, but the pain that was pouring through Ambrose's gaze with every look was from something else entirely. Cain understood that Ambrose felt responsible for the Sun Seeder being taken advantage of, as well as other inventions, but Glitch had warmed up to forgiving himself even if only a little bit. That was not reflected in this Ambrose in the least.

Self loathing Ambrose seemed to be quite the scary individual. On many occasions he was seen storming down halls with a look of absolute anger, yet no one stopped him to ask why. They were too afraid to. At meals, he was silent and barely ate. The only contribution he made was a soft clicking noise that grew louder as the days passed. During one of his periodic checkups, the doctor commented that Ambrose should try to avoid grinding his jaw. The only response from the advisor was a thin lipped nod followed by a quick exit and the faint receding popping noise that proved he wasn't about to let go of that particular habit.

Ambrose massaged his jaw as he glared at his reflection in the mirror by his night stand. _Why should I stop grinding my jaw now? I've done so for as long as I can remember_, he thought. The muscles were sore and it was becoming more and more difficult to open his mouth without discomfort. He often woke up unable to part his upper teeth from the bottom more than a few centimeters. He honestly couldn't remember it ever being that bad, but it wasn't something he did on purpose. It was, however, something that was his. No matter what he had gone through, it was a piece of him that had always held true. They couldn't take that away from him, full brain or not.

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Cain winced every time he heard that popping noise. He was well aware that there was no way it couldn't be painful to the other man. Every attempt he made to confront Ambrose about it was thwarted by the advisor himself. Cain did not receive the cold glares that others had, but was constantly met with an expression that told him_ Not now, please. It hurts too much, I need time to sort myself before I can talk to anyone. _The first time he had seen that look, he barely suppressed a choking noise. Cain did manage to make it to his own room before covering his face with his hands and yelling at the top of his lungs.

He needed Glitch. Cain needed to be selfish.

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He cried out in pain as they laughed an one man kicked his ribs again and another aimed for his kneecap. Two weeks he had been in this hell and he had the blood stains and broken bones to prove it. Two days ago, that had been different. That had been the day that he was violated in the most personal way. Even as he was being beaten, there was a small part of his mind that wanted the day of the surgery to arrive, if only to be able to forget.

_If only Cain had shot the damn thing._

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Ambrose woke up from another vivid nightmare to the sound of someone pounding on his chamber door.

"Ambrose! Open the door! GLITCH!" Ambrose pulled himself out of bed and stomped over to the door, opening it to face a very agitated looking Wyatt.

"What? Didn't feel the need to break down the door too? You know, for dramatic effect." Ambrose's words held the most sour stench of sarcasm, but angered features softened when he noticed that Cain looked frantic. Cain was the epitome of stoicism. He wasn't supposed to look frantic.

"It's Zero. He's gone." Cain pushed out the words in a growl through tightly clenched teeth.

Ambrose responded less than gracefully by running around his room grabbing anything that even half resembled an outfit and attempting to throw it on while trying to throw off his bed clothing at the same time. While it wasn't graceful, Cain noticed that it was done with an odd amount of efficiency. He also noticed that the top of Ambrose's head was not the only part of him that contained distinctive thick pink scars. His flesh was littered with them, mostly on but not limited to his torso, also running along his legs and arms.

The ex-head case finished dressing and finally noticed he was being stared at. Cain was slightly squinting and with his teeth still clenched tightly, he was frowning.

Ambrose raised one eyebrow and gave a faint half hearted smile. "Well, now you know what the striped undershirt is for."

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(TBC)


	2. Chapter 2

The light that emanated from the sun was something to find comfort in. It brightened up even the darkest pieces of land. It could not, however, illuminate the secrets and sorrows that had come about in the efforts to save a beloved world and a peaceful life, no matter how hard it tried. As if admitting defeat, the skies darkened at the peek of the sun's rotation and with howling winds and screams of thunder partnering with tantrums of lightning, the sky wept with all of its heart.

Cain paced the room, glaring at everything he passed as if it personally offended him. With his head tilted slightly downward, the rim of his ever present hat managed to keep his deadly gaze from reaching any of the people watching him as every step he took was one step closer to his self control falling apart.

Ambrose silently watched Wyatt roam the large room that had been the most current conference arena for the royal family and their closest friends. As his eyes followed the pacing man, he didn't bother to move his head. If one were to watch Ambrose closely enough, they would notice that every once in a while his brow would twitch in a mixture of anger, concern and pain. No one bothered to look at him long enough to see it, though. They were too fixated with keeping an eye on Cain, just in case he lost what little composition he had left and flew into a fit of rage. Not one of was quite sure if they would try to stop him, or just bolt for the door.

Everyone except for the Queen was present. Ahamo and his daughters sat together at a small table in a corner of the large room, father in the middle and his two little girls on either side. Tutor stood patiently, lightly leaning against the wall by the door, arms crossed over his chest. Raw had returned from his journeys when he received a speedy and official notice of the escape of Zero. He had plopped himself on the floor and sat with crossed legs in front of a perfectly good couch to the right of Ahamo and the girls, and much to DG's agitation, leaned on it instead of actually using it for its original purpose. Jeb however, did use the couch and watched on with a mixture of fascination and a bit of fear as his father continued to try to destroy the room with his eyes alone. Ambrose had found an almost comfortable chair made of a fine reddish-chocolate wood with a very unpleasing floral upholstery. He positioned the chair to face the center of the room, the back almost touching the wall directly across from the room's window, the door to the room to the left of his vision, the royal family a few yards to his right. With one leg crossed over the other, he had placed his hands on the arms of the chair. Over all, it was a very rigid position, his back perfectly straight and his face set in stone (aside from the periodic twitching).

It had been fifteen minutes since the group had gathered when the Queen fluttered into the room with a sincere smile of apology and sat down in the seat next to her husband that DG had offered her and the princess moved to stand by her sister and placed a loving hand on the older sister's shoulder.

The Queen cleared her throat and Cain stopped dead in his tracks, then spinning on his heal to face the royal family with an intense and attentive expression. Ambrose couldn't help but smile at the determination, which neither the princesses nor Cain missed. A mixture of emotions flew over the Tin Man's face, almost settling on irritation before giving in to acceptance that maybe, just maybe he might possibly be overdoing it. That was until the smile on the advisors face fell to a frown. At that point, Cain became quite sure that he had not been overreacting, Ambrose had been appreciating his concern. DG just rolled her eyes, used to the odd quirks of the two men's friendship and Azkadellia's features softened a bit before returning her attention to her mother.

"As we're all aware, Zero has managed to escape from the prison in the Witch's Tower. It is probably safe to assume that he was released by someone that has extensive knowledge of the structure. Though, we had changed many of the security features and adjusted the floor plan slightly," the Queen stopped mid-sentence as Ambrose scoffed, remembering how Glitch had a first hand experience with the "slightly" adjusted area. It was just another one of those times that Cain had to hunt him down and save him from almost getting himself killed by some large feathered serpents and from blowing up everything he decided needed to have their buttons and switches messed with.

_If I would have had my full brain during that visit,_ Ambrose thought, _I may very well have blown that damn place up, even if I had to take myself with it. _He continued to sort through memories of the time he had spent in the tower. The time he spent with the Witch's minions. The time he spent trying not to let himself be destroyed. He never was quite sure if he succeeded in the last attempt.

The Queen had continued her speech about the flaws of their holding arrangement for Zero while Ambrose had been musing to himself about tearing the tower apart. He had been staring across the room and out the window and into the heavy rain for a minute or two before he realized he wasn't paying attention in the least. Abruptly ending his thoughts, he focused his eyes and quickly surveyed the room. Catching eyes with Cain, who seemed to have been watching him during the laps in attention, he wondered exactly what expressions he had been making during those short minutes to make Cain tilt his head and raise his eyebrows in such a curious yet concerned way. Ambrose broke the eye contact and moving his head for the first time since he'd sat down in that chair, he quickly tilted his face down and to the left, taking an unexplainable interest in the far left corner past the door.

"Ambrose, are you listening to me?" The Queen once again stopped her dialogue.

"Yeah." He choked out the word, practically broadcasting to the woman that he had not in fact been paying attention, nor did he really find her droning the least bit interesting.

"Oh, good. I expect you to work with Mr. Cain on how to thwart any of the Underground's advances. Now that you're... more yourself... we could benefit from your tactical planning. Mr. Cain, did you know that Ambrose here was wonderful at advising us on how to keep ourselves protected. Except for..." The Queen trailed off as she glanced at her older daughter and winced as Azkadellia stared at her own lap, her eyes glistening with what threatened to be tears. "He would do anything for us." she finished.

_And I did_. Without a word, Ambrose stood up and left the room, ignoring the Queen calling after him. Cain quickly followed him out into the hallway and stopped him by grabbing his arm. Ambrose spun around, wrenching his arm away in the process.

"We're not done with the meeting." Wyatt didn't attempt to take hold of Ambrose again, but seemed to have every intention of changing his mind and dragging the advisor back into the room if he had to.

"I am. For now. Take notes, I'll meet with you in a few hours to start our planning." Ambrose turned to leave, Cain stopping him by more gently placing a hand on Ambrose's arm.

"She's going to be pissed." He wanted to ask the darker haired man what was wrong, but he wasn't sure how to. It wasn't the same as before the surgery. He couldn't even be sure that this was the same person he had known through the time of their adventures in destroying the Witch. There were similarities, but there were differences. So many differences. He wasn't even sure that the other man even considered them to be anything other than acquaintances.

"She's going to have to deal with it." Ambrose was getting more and more impatient. He wanted to explain to Cain, he really did. He just couldn't. It wouldn't be fair to burden the man with more than he already had to deal with. It was obvious that the Tin Man was still dealing with his own traumas and Ambrose felt much of the pain that Wyatt radiated, not to mention his own. How could he ask Cain to carry that same responsibility? It wouldn't be fair. He was also afraid that Cain might hate him, or find another person's problems too much to hold together. He didn't want Cain to give up on him.

He was having enough trouble not giving up on himself.

Cain reluctantly let Ambrose go. He watched as the person he put so much effort into constantly saving wandered away as if he were trying to lose himself.

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Cain walked slowly back to the conference room after lunch (which Ambrose was unsurprisingly absent from). He paused for a moment, wondering if he should stop by the other man's room first. After a quick internal struggle, he decided against it. He would go to the place he was supposed to meet Ambrose first, then go off and look for him if he wasn't there. Upon entering the room, he stopped abruptly as he took in the change of atmosphere. The tables, chairs, and even a decent amount of the floor was cluttered with papers. Graphs, maps, books, and notes were everywhere. He supposed that this is what Ambrose had spent his meal time doing, in lieu of actually eating. Cain almost jumped out of his coat when Ambrose popped his head up from where he had been crouching behind the table in the corner that the royal family had been seated earlier that day.

"I dropped my pen." Ambrose said as he twirled the pen between his fingers before Cain had a chance to even ask anything.

"Oh."

The advisor stared at Cain for a moment before looking away and grabbing a few seemingly random papers and placing them on top of the table. "I was looking at some of the older maps we have of the Underground. They are horribly outdated, so I made some new ones. These are based on the time we spent there and the most logical places to have any hidden tunnels, escape routes, and so on. Unfortunately, the place was created for the purpose of hiding those that didn't want to be found and to hinder the ones that dared to adventure there to find them. I'm sure that since they've acquired a bit of brain power that revolves around being horrid and sneaky down there, they've made some changes. None of them to our benefit, of course. Wouldn't want to be convenient or anything."

Cain took a moment to look at the maps on the table. "You made these? In the past hour? They're... elaborate." He was amazed at the effort and detail put into the drawings. Everything was taken into account for. He had a few minutes to look at the older maps the Queen had given him before he had decided to take the time for lunch. They didn't even come close to the new ones.

"Hmm, yes. When I focus on something, I get it done. Obsessively, even." Ambrose turned his attention from the maps to Cain's face once again. He tilted his head a bit as if considering something, then spoke again. "When I was glitching, I had no attention span. Essentially, the only difference is that I have fluid thought processes." He paused again. "No, that's not quite right. The difference is that I can remember things. A lot of things." He turned back to the map closest to him and glared at it a moment before making a few small adjustments. Satisfied with the changes, he smiled and gave a quick nod as if he had defeated the parchment in some sort of argument.

"Uh-huh. I see. What did you remember?" Wyatt tossed the question in as though it were an afterthought and hoped that the inquiry sounded innocent enough, though if Ambrose was as smart as he claimed to be, he'd most likely see right through the attempt at finding out what had been bothering the ex-zipper head.

"We should really focus on how to get to Zero." Both men knew that waiting for Zero to do something annoying was not an option and that they would be plotting a way to recapture the man. If Ambrose had been there for the rest of the meeting, he would also have known that this was the Queen's wish all along, but she thought it unfair to order them to do so and was relieved when Cain demanded it.

"Maybe something you remember will help us find him." Cain realized that he should have thought of more ways to keep the conversation going. Any more avoidance and he would have to grasp at straws, which would most likely make him look like an idiot rather than get him the answers he was looking for.

Ambrose sighed and abandoned the papers on the table to move to sit on the couch. Instead of the rigid position he had taken in the chair at the meeting, he leaned over and rested his elbows on his knees placing his face in his palms. It reminded Cain of how unrefined the man could be at moments when he had called himself Glitch. Strike one more up for similarities. The couch was roomy enough for two to sit comfortably, so Wyatt chose to sit on the other side of Ambrose, though towards the edge of the cushion.

He was slightly confused when Ambrose grinned at him until he realized the facial expression was in response to his inability to sit in a relaxed manor. He looked away for a moment to contemplate whether or not he wanted to deal with that damn grin at random intervals of the conversation or if he should just give in and sit back against the cushions. He gave in and chose the latter.

After the grin turned to a smirk of victory, Ambrose took a moment to consider what to say next. "I really don't think that anything I remember will be of any use to us."

"But you're not positive. What do you remember?" Cain hoped that Ambrose hadn't changed his mind about letting out some of his memories.

"Everything. Damn it. I remember everything."

pop crack

Ambrose was grinding his jaw again. Cain turned and grabbed Ambrose's jaw, palm cradling the advisors chin. It was not enough to hurt, but forceful enough to stop the grinding.

"Stop that," Cain commanded, "It hurts."

Ambrose became visibly confused. "It's a habit. You don't have to worry about it."

Cain maintained his hold. "No, I mean that every time you do that, I feel it. So stop it."

The admission startled Ambrose, but the warm hand on his face brought him back from his confusion. He made no attempt at pulling away, but he did decide to make a few things clear.

"You should let go. There are things that you don't know about me." Still, the hand kept it's hold.

"Well than tell me." Cain stared at Ambrose, waiting for a change in expression. He felt the frown before he even saw it.

"I don't suppose they told you." Ambrose stopped any response by continuing. "You know, I do prefer men. Always have. Of course, when I was Glitch, I didn't remember. When I did remember, it wouldn't have made a difference, I was close to having the mentality of a child. Everyone knew, including Azkadellia's men." Cain had loosened his grip to allow Ambrose to talk, but didn't move his hand away. Ambrose took the liberty of assuming that this was because the other man wasn't sure how to process the information, so he tried to elaborate. "They beat the shit out of me, pardon the profanity, on a regular basis. When that got boring, they took the little bit of information that I just gave you and used it to their liking both before and after they cut out my brain. That's what I remember. That's what I've been spending every moment since my brain was reconnected trying to forget. So please, stop asking."

Cain finally dropped his hand down from the position it had been holding and Ambrose turned his gaze away. Neither man made an attempt to move or speak, Cain staring at the side of his friend's face as Ambrose avoided any eye contact. It took some time before Cain attempted to say anything, his voice faltering after the first attempt.

The second attempt was a bit more successful.

"How long were you with them after the surgery?" The question surprised Ambrose enough to look up at Cain. What was more of a surprise was not as much the anger in Wyatt's eyes, but the tears that had successfully escaped that anger's wrath and had made a shimmering path down slightly red cheeks and a tightly clenched jaw.

"I... don't know. I wasn't exactly coherent and there are things that I can't remember directly after the surgery." Ambrose was afraid to move, that Cain might truly realize that he didn't want to deal with Ambrose's memories.

"Bullshit. Tell me." It was a command and was forceful enough that Ambrose realized that Cain was not going to attempt to politely coerce the information out him. Wyatt needed to know and Ambrose was going to tell him, whether he wanted to or not.

"A few years, I think... then they let me go when they got bored. Though they did find me every once in a while and would keep me around for a while." Ambrose hoped that would be enough for the other man to digest. It was not.

Cain got as far as "How many times did th..." before he was cut off by Ambrose's raised voice.

"I don't know, Cain! I didn't keep count after the first month!" Cain was startled by Ambrose's outburst.

"I'm sorry. I just... I have one more thing to ask." Ambrose took a moment before nodding for Cain to continue. "Was Zero one of those men?" Ambrose shut his eyes and kept them closed.

"Yeah, he was." Cain stood up and Ambrose flung is eyes open and yelped as he was pulled up along with Wyatt. He did not expect to be pulled into a gentle hug.

"I'm going to kill him." Cain would just have to destroy that man. Zero had taken Adora away from him and he had taken a piece of Ambrose's soul as well.

"Not if I get to him first." Ambrose stepped away from the hug and attempted to change the subject. "However, a man as handsome as you might want to consider that a boy might get the wrong idea if you keep hugging them."

The blonde took the time to consider each statement. "I'm sure you could take care of Zero just fine, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to be there to help. I'm your friend. I'll help you when you need help and I'll hug you when you need a hug." He paused a moment to think about what he just said and decided to add, "Just don't tell DG. She'll have special hugging days or something similarly ridiculous."

"You do realize that you just gave me permission to hit on you." Ambrose watched with amusement and yet a bit of sadness as the realization of what was going on seeped into Cain's face.

"... Oh..." Cain looked as if he were thinking intensively. "Wait a minute, is this going to involve you constantly touching me, staring at me and making suggestive comments? Because really, that's exactly what you did when you were Glitch."

"Well, yes, and honestly, I _am_ Glitch. Stop referring to the name as if it were an entirely different person."

"You've been hitting on me for over half an annual!" Cain wasn't sure if he should be upset or not.

"Oh, finally caught up, did we?" Ambrose's mouth was set in a thin line, but he gave himself away as the corners started to curl upwards.

"And you're proud of it!" He was becoming more and more confused, torn between agitation and laughing. He had been so worried that Ambrose had wanted nothing to do with him that he didn't even consider that the man was afraid of what Cain might think if he realized that he was being courted by another man. With one hand he grabbed the front of Ambrose's shirt and pulled the royal advisor towards him for another hug, but stopped short as Ambrose violently flinched as if preparing to be struck.

"Hug. I was going for a hug." Ambrose relaxed a bit and smiled, then moved forward for the hug. It suddenly occurred to Cain that even though they had been joking around, that didn't stop the memories from existing, nor the events that had led to them. He'd just have to be glad that Ambrose trusted him enough to confide in him.

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Later that night, Ambrose spent another sleepless night staring at the ceiling above his bed. The conversation between himself and Cain kept replaying through his head, sometimes interrupted by the memories of the past that went with it.

He really was glad that he could talk with Cain and that even though Wyatt was persistent in questioning at first, when he got the information he didn't keep harping on it after the conversation had ended. Ambrose didn't want to talk about the memories in detail and Cain knew that. It appeared that Wyatt was content in just knowing.

Wyatt had also managed to avoid responding to Ambrose's confession of attraction. The royal advisor wasn't sure as to whether this was the other man's way of consenting to at least allowing Ambrose to make light advances, or if Cain hoped that if he ignored it that it would go away.

_Just another thought to let fester,_ Ambrose though.

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Cain hadn't been able to fall asleep, not after Ambrose told him of what he remembered. Cain wondered if he should be comparing his time in the tin suit and the loss of his wife to Ambrose's loss of half his brain and the abuse he had endured. Cain very much tried not to compare them, but it didn't seem to matter, because in the end he wasn't able to decide one way or the other. It was impossible to compare the events of one life to another and find that one had it worse, especially in this particular case.

He attempted to turn his thoughts to something else and managed to somehow settle on what it will be like now that he knows that Ambrose will be making advances. It had never occurred to him that a relationship of that nature would be possible with the ex-head case. Cain did know that he needed Ambrose as a friend, but anything further he wasn't sure about. He'd need time to think.

_Alright, maybe I have thought about it in the past. I've just never allowed myself to continue thinking about it. Apparently, I'm going to have to or risk my friendship with Ambrose if I don't give him some type of response._

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_This place smells horrible. There are dead rodents everywhere and they are rotting! What kind of rescue is this? _Zero tried to maintain an aloof face as he was escorted down dark tunnels to meet the person that had freed him, though he had tasted the vomit in his throat a few times, he managed to swallow it and pretend like nothing had happened.

_It wouldn't be long before I get my revenge on those fools._

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(TBC)


	3. Chapter 3

He had been kept in the same room for the past three days. Upon examination, it was clear that the room was the equivalent of his previous residence, cold, damp and smelt just awful. Zero wasn't sure if he had been rescued or if he had just been captured by a different group of people, men that were much more likely to cause him pain.

The one thing that he could give thanks for was the meals he was given. They were nothing similar to the slop he had received in the tower prison. The food he was given in this new holding cell was identifiable and obviously made by a practicing cook. He felt no shame in showing off his glutinous side as each meal was delivered and he met his tray with a slightly anxious demeanor.

He had been waiting for over an hour for his scheduled meal, all of which had been arriving almost like clockwork (give or take a few minutes). This night's supper had yet to arrive and Zero was becoming impatient. He paced the room, watching the locked door for any sign of his meal. He stopped abruptly as the door slowly opened and a young man that he had yet to meet stepped in.

The man must have been in his late twenties and reminded Zero of what he must have looked like at that age. The defiance and haughty stance showed signs of one that might become great. Zero made a mental note to dispose of the man at the first chance he received.

"Follow me. You'll be dinning with the Master tonight." Without another word, he turned and left the room, giving no chance for thought as Zero quickly followed.

A short walk away found them at a set of large iron doors, out of place in the earthy tunnels. The panels of the doors had deep etchings of ancient mythical creatures, some of which Zero had remembered from stories as a child, some of them he had first hand experience with as the Witch had a tendency to call out some of the most vicious things in existence. Both men stared at the door and after a few minutes Zero began to wonder if he was supposed to do something and the man next to him had neglected to tell him.

Suddenly the door swung inward, revealing a long dining table and a figure down the end across the room. The person was mostly hidden by what once must have been a beautiful center piece, but was now dry and shriveled, the flowers grey with only a slight hint of what their original pigment must have been. The young man looked at Zero and with an aggravated expression, nodded towards the room, indicating that the older man should enter.

_I'm really going to have to kill that kid._

Walking into the room and almost avoiding flinching at the slam of the door behind him, Zero took the lack of an invitation to advance towards his host as just the opposite. He expected to find one of his officers waiting for him, smiling proudly from their rescue efforts. That was not the case at all, in fact Zero was absolutely dumbfounded as the figure came into view.

"... How did you? I thought you were dead!" Zero's confusion was further proven as he opened and closed his mouth a few more times before deciding he had nothing more to say.

"Well, I'm not." His host paused for a moment, allowing Zero time to respond if he wished, but when met with silence, they continued. "Now sit, eat and most importantly, listen."

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Cain stared across the dining table as he watched Ambrose avoid eating his supper. The royal advisor had managed to move the food around in such a manor that what had originally appeared to be a full plate had now seemed to carry almost half of it's original contents. Cain was almost positive that it was physically impossible to do exactly what he had spent the last ten minutes watch the other man do. As soon as Ambrose realized he was being watched, he maintained eye contact with Wyatt and took a small bite of what appeared to be a vegetable of some kind that had been hidden in the small and compact pile. The eye contact was maintained until Wyatt was sure that Ambrose had gotten at semi-decent meal out of the mess. Even so, he wasn't sure if he had actually witnessed the food being consumed, or if it had been another trick that the advisor had up his sleeve.

_I swear, that man would have made an excellent thief._

His suspicions were put to rest when Ambrose turned slightly more pale then usual, which in its own was an amazing feat, then quickly excused himself. As had become a usual event, Cain promptly followed as the queen stopped mid-sentence looking quite perturbed and DG shook her head.

Cain almost fell over the other man in the hallway as Ambrose was crouched over, huddle against the wall directly outside the door, the little of the meal he had just eaten keeping him company on the ground next to him.

"And that would be why I wasn't eating." Ambrose was still crouching, leaning one side of his body against the wall, his face towards the floor and his fingers locked together on the back of his head, elbows on his knees.

"You haven't been eating at all recently. Why didn't you tell anyone?." Cain placed a hand on Ambrose's back.

"Because they would worry, and women tend to hover. Which oddly enough, is exactly what you are doing right now." Ambrose stood slowly, causing Cain's hand to slip away. The advisor closed his eyes and stood with his back against the wall, breathing deeply.

"Firstly, you might want to re-evaluate your view of who would be the woman here. Secondly, I'm taking you to your room so that you can rest." Cain was pleased with himself when Ambrose smirked at the quip, not realizing that the other man was in fact amused by the motherly tendencies that Wyatt Cain possessed.

_He would have been a great father if they had only let him. _Ambrose mentally frowned. He wondered if that his friend was making up for his lost time taking care of Jeb by taking care of him instead. He hadn't met Cain before the tin suit, it was possible that he had been this kind originally. The difference now was that Cain did not show this kind of care to others, not DG, not even his own son. The one time he had seen a glimps of this type of kindness from Cain was in the dressing room of the Mystic Man. It was a persona that was only used for those that were closest to the man. This realization made Ambrose quite pleased.

They had made it to Ambrose's room safely, if one were to ignore a few stumbles here and there. He shrugged off his stuffy coat and vest and laid down, not bothering to kick off his shoes. Cain pursed his lips together and took it to himself to remove them. Ambrose made no fuss and stared at the ceiling with half lidded eyes.

"Now, go to sleep." Cain stood bedside with arms crossed, waiting for his command to be obeyed.

"I can't sleep when someone is watching me." Ambrose neglected to add that he rarely could sleep when someone wasn't watching him either.

Cain gave a soft smile and nodded, then turned to leave the room. As the door clicked shut, Ambrose was up from the bed and pulled out some maps to the Underground as well as a pen from an otherwise bare dresser drawer. Sitting in a chair that was almost identical to the one he had used in the conference room, he prepared himself for a long night.

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Zero could not see how it was possible that his rescuer was alive.

_I saw the body. I kicked the fucking thing. It was definitely dead, the stiffness had already kicked in. Hell, the lifeless form had even pissed itself._

If his host remembered such an act, there was no mention of it during their meeting. There was little discussion between the two, his host speaking during most of the meal. One thing was made clear during their hour or so together, Zero would have his chance to destroy the supposed Outer Zone heros and anyone that got in his way.

_A few days. I only have to wait a few days_. Zero grinned without warning, peaking the curiosity of the boy escorting him back to the little room. The same boy that had walked him to meet his host. The boy that his host had given him permission to do with as he wished, and Zero had every intention of taking advantage of the offering.

_At least I can finally have a bit of fun again._

No one dared respond to the screams that night, nor did they look twice as they passed the now unlocked room of Zero. However, to the poor fellow that brought the once Long Coat's breakfast, the memory of the bloody and defiled body laying in the hallway as if discarded like trash would haunt him for many nights to come.

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Cain arrived early in the morning to meet with Ambrose, hoping to get a bit of work done before the advisor arrived, whom Cain hoped would be refreshed from a long night's sleep. To his surprise, which when he thought about it further he realized shouldn't have been, Ambrose was already hard at work hovering over a table full of papers, scribbling on them furiously.

Ambrose looked up as the opening of the door caused a small draft, the papers he was working on rustling slightly. The delay between Cain entering and Ambrose turning was quick, but the change in the advisor's facial expression from overly fatigued to royal poise took a second longer. The difference was not something that Cain would easily miss nor would he ignore it.

"Didn't sleep well?" _I should have watched him_, Cain thought. _I should have made sure he slept through the night._

"No, I had some ideas that woke me up during the night and I had to work on them before I lost them." Ambrose lied and both he and Cain knew it.

They spent most of the morning into early afternoon working together before Cain insisted that he was famished and that they needed to find something to eat. Ambrose tried to decline, but Cain would not have it and hunted down some food and brought it back to the room in the hopes that the other man might eat if he could work at the same time. Cain tried to choose light foods, along with a bit of fresh fruit for Ambrose, but also brought a plate of roasted meat in gravy with potatoes for himself (he took more than he should have, with the small bit of hope that Ambrose might change his mind and feel well enough to eat the heavier food). A few minutes after Cain had returned, a servant scurried in to bring the mugs of cold water that he had been unable to carry himself.

Much to Cain's chagrin, Ambrose only consumed a few berries before gulping down the entire mug of water and resuming his work. Cain hovered over the other man as he wrote, sipping the water periodically. Suddenly Ambrose jumped up in excitement, the mug of water flying in the air and wetting the both of them. Cain jumped slightly and then glared back and forth between his wet shirt and the man that was standing a few feet away from him. Ambrose frowned and made an attempt at wiping the liquid off of his own face with his shirt sleeve and the back of his hand.

"I found a way in." Ambrose's tone was flat, showing none of his previous excitement. He continued to rub his sleeve over his face, stopping when Cain's sour look dropped to a curious frown.

"Are you wearing make-up?" The ex-tin man moved closer to his friend and rubbed a thumb along Ambrose's cheek and then examined the outcome. "You are."

Ambrose opened his mouth as if to say something, paused for a moment, closed his mouth and then shrugged before thinking of a response. "Yeah."

"Do I even want to know why?" It occurred to Cain that he had noticed a bit of powder and even a light eye lining at times, but nothing this thick and concealing.

"Well... I happened to have dark circles under my eyes. A man in my position can not afford to look any weaker than I already do." _And I didn't want you to know how much sleep I haven't had, _Ambrose finished to himself silently.

"That's it. You're going to go to sleep and I'm going to watch you to make sure that you do. The work can wait, I don't even know how you're managing to function at all right now. Let's go." Cain didn't leave time for arguments and walked up to Ambrose, picked him up and slung him over his shoulder like a bag of sand. Cain was thrown off balance at first, not realizing that Ambrose would be heavier than he looked. The one thing that the advisor had not been neglecting as much as everything else was his physical training. Wyatt realized that he should have known that Ambrose would have more density from muscle, he had watched the other man take out a group of Long Coats with practice ease after all. Such a fiery individual would take the time to expand on their offence and defense.

Ambrose struggled at first, very much agitated. "Cain, put me down! I can walk just fine by myself and I can decide when I'm going to go to sleep on my own!" He continued to try to twist out of Cain's hold.

"Do you _want_ me to drop you on the tile floor?"

Ambrose's body went limp and he exhaled loudly into Cain's back. "No, that would hurt."Cain gave a short an barely audible laugh at being able to hear the pout that he knew was plastered on the other man's face.

Once again, Cain escorted Ambrose back to the advisor's room.

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Cain had watched for a few hours as Ambrose made a horrible performance of pretending to sleep. The constant alternating finger ticking was a trait that Cain had only seen from the other man when he was trying working on a particularly elaborate calculation. The only difference now was that Ambrose was laying down with his eyes closed and doing his best to appear as if he were resting.

As Cain began to drift off into a light slumber in a particularly uncomfortable chair, there was a soft knocking at the chamber door. Soon after, Azkadellia poked her head in and looked slightly surprised at the extra body in the room. Ambrose's eyes popped open and he sat up quickly.

"Oh, I forgot, didn't I?" He looked from Azkadellia to Cain and back to the girl again, with a slightly ashamed expression.

"I... hello." Azkadellia seemed to be torn between politely excusing herself and bolting out of the room.

"Please, come in. Cain, would you mind terribly if I asked you to leave?" Cain made no signs of budging.

Azkadellia fidgeted for a moment, attempting to smooth down the sides of her perfectly fitted dress.

"Yeah, I would mind since you asked. Did I miss something?" Cain's tone was crystal clear, loudly proclaiming that his bark was in fact only slightly less worse than his bite.

"Maybe you should tell him, Ambrose." Her voice was soft and filled with concern. Cain did not like where this was going at all. Ambrose had clearly stated that he was only interested in men. _Why would Azkadellia come to his room in the middle of the day for a secret meeting that they were both obviously embarrassed about?_

"I'd love to hear this." In the far corners of his mind, Cain wondered why he was concerned in the first place.

"Cain... Wyatt, well... It's hard to explain." Ambrose scratched at the edges of the scar atop his head. "Do you remember how the doctors had incorporated magic to keep my memories from flooding together all at once?" Cain slowly nodded and Ambrose dropped his hand to his lap and continued. "It seems that we had not taken into account that even at the rate we had originally decided on would be to quick for a stable recovery. Azkadellia had been privately extending the process. I had asked her to and once she was able to see the condition I was in, she really couldn't refuse."

Ambrose had finished and was waiting for any kind of reaction from the blonde.

"So, she's been helping you? Why didn't you say anything?" In a way Cain felt relieved, but he did not like that Ambrose had been keeping such an important thing from him.

"I didn't want you to worry. I suppose it is good that you found out, because... well we ran into a bit of a problem. I can't go with you to find Zero if the magic is still in my brain, soaking it really. It makes my mind a bit more vulnerable to suggestion, which could be dangerous if we were captured." Ambrose paused to configure the rest of what he was going to say. "I needed her to cut off the connection. It will take a few hours because we didn't want to do it suddenly, but we don't know how I'll react once it's gone. I could hurt someone," he turned away and with a barely audible whisper finished with "or myself."

Cain heard the ending as clear as anything that had been said. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, opening his eyes along with the exhale.

"I'm staying." Neither the princess nor the royal advisor chose to argue with him.

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The process looked simple enough to Cain. Ambrose laid still with his head almost hanging off of the side of once side of the bed, Azkadellia stood over his face, holding her hands a few inches away from his scull. It looked simple until the tendrils of light from her finger tips became brighter and she moved her hands away from Ambrose's head and instead kept them about a foot about the man's brow. Moving her fingers as if trying to unlock a puzzle box, nimble and light in their pattern, the light changing from a pale green to a dark blue and than finally silver.

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Cain decided to watch from a short distance, the entire time he replayed the feelings he had associated with the concept of Ambrose with another person before coming to a semi-startling realization.

_Shit. I was jealous._

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------_

A few hours later, and a few more revelations of the concept of jealously on Cain's part, the job was complete. Azkadellia moved away and sat down on the first chair she could find, absolutely exhausted.

Cain took a step towards Ambrose. "Are you okay?"

Ambrose turned his head towards Cain and his glare spoke volumes. Ambrose was very not alright and he was angry as hell. Cain feared the thoughts and memories that might be flowing through his friend's mind.

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Zero thought back on the surprise of finding out who is host really was. He had never expected to hear many of the things that he had listened to come out of the other man's mouth. It wasn't the person he had known of originally, the Mystic Man had never been one for evil.

He grinned, scaring a few stray rats into a moldy corner.

The shock of finding out that his precious mentor was on the "bad" side may very well destroy Cain before Zero did and he didn't mind one little bit.

_This is going to be more fun that I had originally anticipated and that really is saying something._

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(TBC)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: For those of you also following this story on LJ, this brings the story up to date (as I was one chapter behind on so if you were reading at LJ you've probably read this part already. I am currently working on Part 5 and will update at both place around the same time from now on.

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Ambrose had spent the remainder of the day through to the next afternoon rampaging throughout the palace. Any object that could be considered remotely breakable and got in his path or happened to near by at a particularly bad moment had suffered a horrible fate. Cain understood the breaking of fragile objects and the occasional throwing of slightly larger things, but there were a few destroyed objects that had managed to ignore any physical law and allowed Ambrose to apply his wrath against reason. Such as the tools used to maintain the fireplace. Normally, one would not find them impaling a large granite statue. Than again, you would most likely not find the head of said statue removed with a clean cut and thrown through a wooden door. Now, the door Cain could understand. He was not sure how the rest had exactly occurred and he was almost positive that he really didn't want to know.

When Ambrose had settled down a bit, the Queen insisted that another meeting was in order. This time it was Ambrose's turn to pace the room, not one person took a seat and all except for the Queen hovered close to the door in case the need to make a quick retreat was necessary. The Queen only smiled one of the sweetest smiles they had all seen since before she had been captured by the Witch.

Cain wasn't sure if he should try to physically restrain Ambrose half of the time, or if he should let the man do as he wished. The royal advisor's knuckles were neatly wrapped in white bandages, blood already starting to seep through. It was surprising that no bones had been broken through what Cain had mentioned to his son as "a late night game of how many things Ambrose could break with his fists" when trying to explain the commotion.

"Your majesty, I think we should postpone the mission for a few days." Cain didn't want to say that Ambrose was a liability if he continued to act the way he had been.

DG interrupted any response the Queen may have had. "Wait, what mission? The last I heard, you were going to work on protecting us from those idiots! You can't just have the Royal Advisor running around trying to get himself killed and Cain... well he shouldn't go either!" In the last meeting, the two younger girls had been asked to leave the room and during that time the discussion of the mission had occurred. It had not been the Queen's intention to make them aware of the decision.

Ambrose was not in the mood to listen to whining. "Listen Princess, how about I advise that you keep your royal mouth shut."

DG's eyes widened and for a moment she looked like a kicked puppy before she become rather confused. "I know I should be upset, but I have this weird feeling of familiarity and it is oddly comforting."

The Queen had widened her smile and she was nearly bouncing on her heals. "He does that sometimes. Never this badly and never for so long, but it has been so long since he's shown this side of him. It's my Ambrose." She was gushing with excitement.

Ambrose perked up and almost grinned as realization hit him. "I did, didn't I?" The revelation was short lived and his face fell back into a scowl. "I agree, we'll delay leaving for a day or two. No more than that. Every wasted moment is just time we are giving them to become one step ahead of us." As he finished, he turned and stormed out of the room, but Cain could have sworn he saw a hint of a saunter in the advisor's step.

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Azkadellia had tried to explain the difference in Ambrose's memory to Cain a few times, but he was not grasping the concepts that she had put forward. Breaking down the idea as best she could, she came up with a rather simple response.

"The memories that he had while under the influence of the magic were muddled and missing many pieces. Ambrose has always had a knack for analyzing every detail, so only having small parts was confusing, even more confusing than when he was a head case and could just forget what he couldn't figure out. Now he remembers everything in crystal clarity. He's quick to come to obvious conclusions and now he's taking his time to come to the less obvious ones. In short, his mind is reeling in details, many of them are probably a thousand times more painful than just knowing the general event that occurred."

Cain could imagine sorting through every detail, every breath and touch. He had time to think about those things during his time in the tin suit. The difference was that he had years to do this and everything he had reflected on had never really been forgotten in the first place. He could only imagine how being bombarded with painful memories in such a short amount of time would take it's toll.

"He was like this before he was a head case?" Cain found it hard to believe that the Queen would have such a dangerous person running around her home.

"Well, not to this extent. He's always showed signs of being a bit 'uppity', as mother likes to refer to it. You must understand, the magic had a dulling effect. I only wish we could have let him have that reprieve a bit longer before throwing him head first into the truth."

"He can't heal if the wound isn't washed out properly. It's probably better this way, otherwise the scar would be worse." _He doesn't need any more of those_, Cain thought to himself. He flashed back to the view of Ambrose's bare skin covered in old memories. _We'll just have to pull off our little stunt of re-capturing Zero. Than we can all make new memories together._ Cain just hoped that this seemingly new Ambrose would be up for spending time together. It didn't seem fair that he had been able to connect with Ambrose after the surgery and now he may very well have to start over again. _It's not like he's a new person, he's just more... Ambrose than before. I'm sure it will be fine. _Wyatt continued to reassure himself, but he couldn't help feeling at least a little worried.

It was smaller gestures that had told him that Ambrose was calming down. To most it still seemed that he was just going to destroy everything until he dropped from exhaustion or quite possibly old age, as he had not slowed down much. However, he had been taking care as to what he was destroying, which he had not originally done. Cain had watched as Ambrose kicked a few chairs in a sitting room to splinters, but somehow managed to avoid the table with a small figurine of one of the royal family's ancestors, a precious piece that could never be replicated as it was made from a type of stone that had only been found in the one piece that had been used to make the heirloom.

Ambrose had also been avoiding any physical confrontations, which had not been true of the previous hours. Instead of deliberately trying to attack unaware individuals, he avoided passing them altogether by changing his path without warning, which he had been doing constantly anyway, but Cain noticed that it happened more frequently when there were people around.

They had tried to take turns following Ambrose around the palace, but had decided to dub Cain as the official "Ambrose Watcher" as he was more likely to be able to defend himself from any attacks from the advisor. As of yet, Cain was one of the few people that Ambrose had not attempted to instigate an altercation with.

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"You can't be serious. You said that we would advance tonight!" Zero was not happy with the new arrangements to leave were no longer on schedule.

"Well, now who's fault is that? If you insist on continuing to kill my higher ranking officers, not only am I going to have no one to run tactics, I'm going to have to destroy you. I didn't have to rescue, you know. I could have left you there to rot and still go through with my plans. You are not as important as you believe yourself to be." The Mystic Man was not amused.

"Than why did you save me exactly? You must have needed me for something, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered to bring me here."

"I thought it would be fun to watch you interact with Wyatt Cain. Also, that _damned_ advisor. They both have the tendency to ruin everything. Cain and his damn loyalty kept me from any uprising against the Queen before that obnoxious Witch appeared. What with his constant hovering, I had no time to attempt any meetings and as you well know, the man is ridiculously hard to just dispose of. Ambrose had an idea of what my plans were and kept me from getting anywhere near the royal family, though he had no proof to back up any claim he could have made. Between the two of them my attempts were thwarted from all directions." The older man's eye was twitching slightly as he spoke.

"Hmm, and they didn't even know each other. That does concern me now that they are working together and both are at least slightly aware of the situation. We do have one thing that they don't. The element of surprise." Zero was once again smiling, though he was now even more worried that the entire plan was going to either work wonderfully or fail miserably and that either way he may very well be killed. He did not like pain unless it was someone else's.

"What surprise is that?" The twitching had nearly stopped and the Mystic Man appeared curious enough.

"You." Both men grinned.

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The day before departure had finally arrived with no sign of any more delays. Ambrose was no longer having tantrums full swing, which the palace servants were grateful for. He had however decided that glaring down all those that attempted eye contact was much more efficient. The only one that would bother to attempt looking back was Cain. At first Ambrose had not bothered to give such an angry glance in Wyatt's direction, but as there was no one willing to appose him other than Cain, Ambrose took to put all of his glare's attention towards Wyatt.

Morning through mid-day was what was dubbed by the Queen as the "Glaring Wars". The woman had continued to spend her days in seemingly ignorant bliss which had brought Ambrose to inquire as to whether or not she had managed to get into the confiscated vapor stores. DG seemed unsure and asked her father to follow up on the valid question and then spent all of breakfast insisting that "Glaring Wars" was in fact a rather silly name for anything and that it was also a gross understatement.

It started off rather small with Ambrose staring down Cain and Wyatt refusing to look away. By the end of breakfast there were spans of twenty minute intervals in which neither man would look away from the other, a bitter and deadly look was plastered on both of their faces. Ambrose's glare was accented with anger and the very clear statement that he was more than willing to cause someone pain. Wyatt's look revolved more around irritation and though slightly less malicious, he did not hide the point that he would put all of his efforts in fighting back.

By the end of lunch the two men were almost boiling over with tension and Ahamo had politely asked them to "Please leave the room and find somewhere else to kill each other." As the man rarely asked much of them they complied, abet grudgingly, and took their wordless argument to the conference room. It was another hour before either man spoke.

"Are you done yet?" Cain asked, slightly worn out. He had the beginnings of what could become a very painful tension headache..

Without warning, Ambrose gave no verbal response but rather took it upon himself to quickly sprint across the room and ram Cain into the closed door, pinning him there. Wyatt was surprised that he had no time to react before the assault and as Ambrose made no attempt to explain himself, he spoke again.

"Well, are we going to fight or not?" Cain closed his eyes and prepared himself for a blow but was taken aback when he felt a chaist kiss on the corner of his mouth. His eyes shot open in confusion and watched on as Ambrose pulled away.

"One or both of us might be killed. I think both of us have been through enough to know that we can't keep hoping that maybe one day something might happen. That one day might never come. I needed to do that before we left." Ambrose gently pushed the stunned Cain away from the door and opened the door to leave, but not before turning slightly to mutter "I'm sorry."

Cain raised his hand touched his fingertips to the place on his skin that Ambrose's lips had brushed against and that now tingled with a strange warmth. After a moment he dropped his hand to his side before grabbing the nearest chair and throwing it against the farthest wall, effectively breaking it into a number of shards of wood.

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The Mystic Man had finally gathered what he had needed to storm the palace, the men would pack up and leave after a good night's rest. Their numbers were relatively small, about a hundred and fifty strong, split evenly into three units. Zero was practically dancing around the tunnels with anticipation. He had been a good boy, he had not caused a single hitch in the Mystic Man's plans since the problem that his little killing games had been brought to his attention. This gave him nothing to take out his excitement on, so he resorted to terrorizing the population of soldiers that did not hold any higher officer ranks. He did not kill any of them, but he specifically remembered that the Mystic Man had made to mention of not maiming anyone (as long as it wasn't fatal).

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With the day of departure quickly approaching, the guards and tin men had been assembled and prepared for any retaliation that might occur if Wyatt and Ambrose were found before completing their mission, Jeb Cain proudly leading the army. The men that had been trained well enough to protect themselves had been few and far between. For a kingdom that at one time had an impressive army, their numbers were now limited to about a couple hundred that could be taught quickly enough and that were interested in any job that paid. The economic decline that occurred during the Witch's reign had made many men desperate to feed their families and they were willing to fight for pay and to defend their new found freedom, even if they had grown up tending to the land and had no previous training. Even those numbers were limited in that there were too many men that were afraid to leave their families while trying to stabilize their lives and those that had not fully accepted that they were free of something less than kind ruling over them. As it was, most of the army consisted of the rebels that had originally assisted Jeb in his fight to overthrow the Witch.

Ambrose was no where to be found after his interaction with Wyatt until the servant that served dinner mentioned that he had asked to have the food sent to his quarters. Wyatt headed towards Ambrose's room as soon as was socially acceptable to leave the dining table.

Cain knocked on the door to the advisor's room and waited almost patiently for any sign of response or at least movement. After a few moments the door opened slightly and only a sliver of light was exposed to Wyatt's view. A few seconds later the light was partially hindered by a body, one eye peering through the crack. Ambrose made no attempt to open the door, nor comment on Wyatt's presence and seemed to pause to consider whether or not he should just close the door and ignore the visitor all together.

Not giving Ambrose the chance to slam the door in his face, Cain harshly pushed his way into the room. He regretted the action instantly as he heard the door collide with flesh and bone with a loud crack and the man inside the room spit out a decent amount of profanity, much of which Cain was unfamiliar with but was positive that the phrases were far worse than any he had heard as a tin man (and he had heard some pretty bad things back then).

"Ambrose! I didn't mean to..." Cain's voice faded and he forgot what he was going to say as he noticed the blood pouring out of the other man's nose.

"S'not broken." Ambrose muffled the words as he held his head back, face towards the ceiling. He gently placed his fingers towards his nose, needlessly touching the spot between his nose and upper lip and pulling his hand upward to inspect the red that he had already knew would be there.

Wyatt attempted to apologize but only managed to sputter a few syllables before deciding that he should probably find a wet cloth for Ambrose.

After finding a towel in the connecting bathroom and dampening it, Cain handed it to Ambrose and tried to make cautious and essentially useless gestures of help. He was relieved when the blood had seemed to stop it's flow and Ambrose was able to clean his face off without his nose starting up again and nullifying the act.

"Did you need something, Wyatt?" Ambrose wasn't angry, but sounded very tired.

"I wanted to make sure that you get some sleep. You're going to need it." He tried to avoid showing his embarrassment at the previous incident and was slightly pleased to see that while Ambrose's nose had turned a bit red, it had not started to bruise. He also noted that even though the blood had been washed away, it had left the advisor's lips slightly stained.

"You do not have to keep worrying, I..." But before Ambrose was able to finish his sentence, he was cut off as Cain grabbed him and pulled him in for a forceful kiss. It lasted a few moments before Wyatt released him and stepped back.

"Now go to sleep." Cain waited for Ambrose to show any signs of compliance and when the other man huffed a bit (though with a small grin) and went into the bathing room to change, Wyatt tugged off some of his own day clothes. He decided to leave the simple undershirt and his pants on and climbed into Ambrose's bed to settle down for the night.

Ambrose came out in an emerald green short sleeved silk shirt and black silk pants. Both garments had spiraling ivy embroidered into the fabric in the color of the other piece of the set. Cain snorted at the other man's attire.

Ambrose rolled his eyes. "You're one to judge. Nice pants." He smiled in satisfaction as Cain's smile faltered for a split second then turned to dig through a box in the corner of the room. He kept all of his clothing in that box it appeared and Cain wondered what he could possibly be keeping in the dresser drawers. A minute or two of searching later and Ambrose stood and waved around a pair of much more simpler black pants that were made of something similar to cotton but a bit softer. He tossed them at Cain and taking the hint, Wyatt pushed off the pants he had been wearing and changed into the ones Ambrose had given to him, causing the once head case to turn away until he was sure that Cain had finished changing.

"Hey, these fit pretty well." Cain had expected the clothing to be meant for a slimmer man, but the pants fit him nicely and were slightly baggy if anything.

"Yes. Well, I may or may not have gotten them for you. Possibly. I will not confirm one way or another." Being quite proud of himself, Ambrose climbed into the large bed next to Cain. "I am still having problems sleeping."

"Well, give it another try. I'm not going anywhere." Cain had not left Ambrose's side if he could avoid it, and he wasn't about to start now.

If they happened to end up moving closer to each other during the night, well then it was unlikely that either man would mind.

As Cain found out within an hour of originally drifting off, Ambrose had not been lying about being unable to sleep. He woke up with a start, unable to focus his vision and let out a blood curdling screech. Cain tried to reach out to him, but even though the tremors were rendering him almost unable to coordinate a retaliation, Ambrose still managed to keep Wyatt at bay until the once tin man was able to regain Ambrose's attention.

Pulling the shivering man to his chest, Cain laid back down and tried to sooth Ambrose as best as he could.

_This is going to be a long night._

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(TBC)


	5. Chapter 5

Through the poorly lit corridors something slithered, consuming the small amount of light left with thick tendrils of shadow. The darkened form lacked any particular shape as it meandered through the underground tinging everything in its path with a feeling that wasn't quite death, but a lack of life. It eventually made its way to the Mystic Man's feet, seemingly curling into a comfortable pose as the old man grinned and reached down to stroke what one could only assume was the creature's head.

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Neither Cain nor Ambrose were able to sleep well throughout the night. It pained Cain to think that while the night had brought nothing but fitful slumber and tears for Ambrose, it was most likely the best sleep the man had gotten since the operation. As Wyatt lay next to the advisor, he stared at the ceiling watching the approaching morning as it began to light the room bit by bit.

Ambrose had been asleep for almost two hours without incident and during that time had rolled over onto Cain's arm which he had unconsciously been laid out across the bed at some point during the night. This had effectively pinned Cain to the mattress (unless it was his intention to awaken the other man, which he did not plan to do any time soon). Cain watched Ambrose's chest rise and fall with each breath and slowly drifted off into his own world of dreams.

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_A low scratching noise, metal on metal. The taste of time lingers on tongue and gums. Stench of darkness is rancid. Something crawling, clawing, trying to break in. _

_One and one is two, two and two is four, four and four is eight, eight and eight is... sixteen, sixteen and sixteen is... is... sixteen and sixteen is... damn. One and one is two, two and two is four, four and five, six, seven, eight, nine kittens in a tree, one climbs down and scratches me... scratches, something is scratching outside. It wants to eat me, boil and broil, skin alive and pick apart my limbs._

_I'm hungry. Ah no, what else? What else? Horses, running in a field. Running running running, green grass and a picket fence. Had a horse once as a kid, her name was Pistol, beautiful creature... strong and big... would have been good smoked over a... no... _

_One and one is two, two and two is..._

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Cain woke up from his nightmare with a start, hand quickly darting to his brow to wipe off a bit of sweat. After taking a moment to recall his surroundings it occurred to him that the hand had originally been beneath something, or rather someone. Ambrose was no where to be seen and Cain became more alert in hopes of finding hint of where the other man may have gone off to. Still a bit groggy from sleep Cain nearly missed the sound of the main door clicking open as Ambrose walked in with an expressionless face and a tray filled with food and drinks. He placed the tray on a desk before walking out the door again and entering seconds after with another similarly full tray.

"Apparently someone thought that we may be hungry. The servant that brought the food put it in front of the door, knocked and scrambled away." Ambrose lightly sniffed the tray of food and crinkled his nose in disgust before setting the tray down next to the first. He did however take the cup of tea from the tray and prepared it to his tastes, which Cain noticed was two and a half teaspoons of sugar and a drop of honey.

"How kind of them. Do I even want to know how they knew where I was?"

"You mumble in your sleep, you know. I tried to wake you but the door... did you know dreams are longer in our unconscious minds than in conscious time?" Ambrose looked as if he had meant to apologize for leaving Cain to wake up alone, but failed.

"Mm, the taste was horrible." Cain sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"What? They say that you're not supposed to be able to taste in your dreams."

"First of all, that makes no sense. How would any one else be able to tell me what I can and can't do in my dreams. Second of all, I have many times. Oh, and that thing about dying in real life if you die in your sleep, really not true." Standing up, Cain went straight to his breakfast, grabbed a fork and knife and started shoveling eggs and ham into his mouth.

Ambrose frowned. "I wonder, if you die in real life than do you die in your dreams?".

Wyatt caught himself before attempting to even contemplate the question, knowing that it would most likely lead to his eyes becoming crossed in confusion. "Let's not experiment with that one please."

"You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat." Ambrose grinned.

Cain rolled his eyes. "My point exactly."

"Me-ow." Ambrose didn't bother to look up from the cup of his tea he held as he clawed the air with his free hand. He let a full minute pass before looking up at Cain and soaked in the utter look of befuddlement on the blond's face and in return grinned with childish glee.

Wyatt shook his head in what appeared to be an attempt to rattle his brain into prompting basic motor functions.

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Zero glared at the shadowed beast as it seemed to rhythmically hump his leg. "I think it likes me. I'm... not really sure if I should be grateful or not."

"If it helps in the least, its particular species eats its mate after procreating." The Mystic Man continued to walk down the corridor, not allowing the distraction to hinder his steps and causing the man he spoke with to struggle to keep up.

"So... it either wants to mate with me and kill me or it wants to... well... kill me. Am I getting this correct?" Zero was positive that neither of the two options appealed to his liking.

"Pretty much, yes. I advise not pissing it off." The warning itself was sincere.

"Shit. I don't suppose you'd be kind enough to tell it to... oh, I don't know... not kill me?" Zero tried to concentrate on keeping his stride rather than attempting to shake the thing off of him.

"Nope."

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They had packed as much as they could carry without hindering their travel. Now it was time to say their goodbyes. Both men shook hand with Ahamo, both gave a warm hug to DG, Cain removed his hat and bowed to Azkadellia and Ambrose lightly kissed her hand. The Queen, on the other hand, had different plans for her farewell. Grabbing her advisor by the collar, she pulled him close and whispered into his ear for what seemed to be a few minutes. He responded every once in a while with a nod or a grin and towards the end a look of slight confusion that resulted in a hissing whisper of his own. By the end of their conversation the Queen looked absolutely content with herself and Ambrose continued to eye her warily with one brow raised.

The majestic woman then turned towards Wyatt. As he raised his hand to remove his hat to recreate his previous gesture to the oldest princess, the Queen raised her hand to stop him. "Come now, it's your turn Mister Cain."

Cain froze for a moment before looking to Ambrose and then to the rest of the royal family and back to Ambrose. None of them were able to offer any help. Wyatt stepped forward and allowed the woman to take hold of his hand, pulling him slightly farther away from the group than she had Ambrose.

"Your majesty?" He hoped that this was some sort of pep-talk and not a _"Don't get my Ambrose Killed"_ speech.

"Dearest Cain, I'm trusting you not to get yourself killed. Ambrose has taken to you and it's just so hard to find decent friends for him these days." Cain attempted to protest but was quickly silenced. "Hush child, don't argue with your queen. I know what you're thinking. You think that the man that you had originally met as a head case is in dire need of protecting. I'll have you know, he's been protecting much more than you could ever imagine and he has been doing it for quite some time now." She paused and seemed to be waiting for a response.

"I know he's made sacrifices and he's done a lot to protect the Outer Zone and your family. He's just been through a lot recently. He's strong, but he's not invulnerable." Wyatt wasn't sure if he should have added a 'pardon' in there somewhere, but he never was the one to talk to royalty.

"My dear, the man did more than make a few sacrifices, he gave up everything. He could have killed himself you know. Would have saved himself a lot of misery and it would have kept the Sun Seeder out of the hands of the Witch. He didn't because he knew there would be a better chance of fixing everything if he just kept himself alive. Consider this, it takes a lot more effort to keep yourself alive than it does to let yourself die. He could have had a peaceful death with his brain and sanity still whole. None of us would have thought worse of him. He refused to give up."

Cain had been constantly trying to avoid this exact line of thought. The fact that the Queen herself had decided to bring it up made him aware of how important of a piece of Ambrose's personality he'd been blocking from himself. As he was lost in his thoughts his attention was abruptly brought back to the woman before him as she coughed politely.

"I have one last bit of advice for you before you go Wyatt Cain. When you have a moment to yourself you should really take the time to analyze just which one of you has been saving the other."

At those final words she ushered Cain back towards Ambrose. The advisor watched him with a gentle look of concern. Cain pursed his lips and glared, causing Ambrose to give an abrupt laugh and a strong pat on Cain's shoulder. "Come on, Tin Man. It's time to go."

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"I think it laid eggs in my boot. While I was wearing it." Zero's nose crinkled in disgust.

"It's a male... I don't think that those are eggs..." The Mystic Man looked on with amusement as Zero's upper lip curled even closer towards flaring nostrils.

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TBC


End file.
